How do I safely and smoothly sell our car privately?
October 26, 2021 10:56 AM Subscribe
We have a car we want to sell and put the cash towards the down payment on a new vehicle. We were about to trade it in to the dealership but based on Autotrader listings we think we can get a good deal more via a private sale.
Aside from listing the car on Autotrader (or wherever else is safe to list cars?), what're the usual next steps for making the sale? It makes me nervous to meet a stranger and let them drive the car (both with me in it or not in it) and I don't know how to ensure I get paid without being scammed.
Any and all advice and anecdotes on how to safely and smoothly sell our car privately, from meeting the buyer to them seeing the vehicle to arranging payment would be helpful. Thank you!
Aside from listing the car on Autotrader (or wherever else is safe to list cars?), what're the usual next steps for making the sale? It makes me nervous to meet a stranger and let them drive the car (both with me in it or not in it) and I don't know how to ensure I get paid without being scammed.
Any and all advice and anecdotes on how to safely and smoothly sell our car privately, from meeting the buyer to them seeing the vehicle to arranging payment would be helpful. Thank you!
meet at their bank and withdraw the total amount in cash.
I also have met at the buyer's bank and had the teller hand me the freshly printed check. They get a bill of sale signed by both parties (one copy each) indicating that the car is transferred as-is.
If the buyer needs to take out a loan, make sure you get the check up front.
Is your car paid off, and you have the title in-hand? If not, you're going to want to trade it in. Otherwise there's a whole other level of hassles, to the point that the buyer thinks you're scamming them since you get their money but they have to wait for the title to be released.
posted by hwyengr at 11:23 AM on October 26, 2021 [5 favorites]
I also have met at the buyer's bank and had the teller hand me the freshly printed check. They get a bill of sale signed by both parties (one copy each) indicating that the car is transferred as-is.
If the buyer needs to take out a loan, make sure you get the check up front.
Is your car paid off, and you have the title in-hand? If not, you're going to want to trade it in. Otherwise there's a whole other level of hassles, to the point that the buyer thinks you're scamming them since you get their money but they have to wait for the title to be released.
posted by hwyengr at 11:23 AM on October 26, 2021 [5 favorites]
Remember: if someone takes your car without paying you for it (i.e. steals it), or gets in a crash while test-driving your car, you can call the police and put in a claim with your insurance. Scams involving someone actually taking your car without paying for it are not very common (if you're going to steal a car, it's easier to just, like, steal a car without creating a paper trail!).
To avoid getting scammed: as saeculorum says, only take cash, or maaaybe confirmed wire transfers (although that's going to feel risky to the buyer), or use some kind of escrow service that holds the money until you turn over the car (probably only worth it for higher-value transactions). I have accepted certified checks, although that's not perfect.
DO NOT accept overpayment via check/wire transfer/Venmo/whatever and then give cash back.
DO ensure that you do all the legal stuff correctly in terms of transferring plates/title/registration (this varies by location so I'm not going to bother with specifics) so that you legally no longer own the car once the transaction takes place and you won't run into trouble if the new owner starts racking up parking tickets, etc.
I've bought and sold cars via craigslist multiple times - it's not bad! (I've even had them come to my house for the test drive, which I know is officially the wrong thing to do but... eh, so what, now this person knows that I own an 8-year-old Honda Civic?)
posted by mskyle at 11:31 AM on October 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
To avoid getting scammed: as saeculorum says, only take cash, or maaaybe confirmed wire transfers (although that's going to feel risky to the buyer), or use some kind of escrow service that holds the money until you turn over the car (probably only worth it for higher-value transactions). I have accepted certified checks, although that's not perfect.
DO NOT accept overpayment via check/wire transfer/Venmo/whatever and then give cash back.
DO ensure that you do all the legal stuff correctly in terms of transferring plates/title/registration (this varies by location so I'm not going to bother with specifics) so that you legally no longer own the car once the transaction takes place and you won't run into trouble if the new owner starts racking up parking tickets, etc.
I've bought and sold cars via craigslist multiple times - it's not bad! (I've even had them come to my house for the test drive, which I know is officially the wrong thing to do but... eh, so what, now this person knows that I own an 8-year-old Honda Civic?)
posted by mskyle at 11:31 AM on October 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
I don't care how old fashioned it sounds, but always cash only ever cash.
Meet near your bank so you can deposit it swiftly if need be. Someone I know sold his car on craigslist a few years ago and literally walked away with $13k in folding money. Cash or nothing, scams are way too easy.
When I was selling my nearly-not-driveable cheap asf beater car a few years ago, every person I met up with I asked for their driver's license first, took a photo of their driver's license, and texted it to a friend. And my friend was poised ready to call the police to my location if I didn't check back in regularly. I also told the people I was meeting that I was doing this, "I have sent your driver's license to a friend and they are expecting me to check in with them regularly," etc. One guy wanted to take my car around the block so I insisted I held onto both his license and his phone and he drove alone.
I guess the biggest thing I'd ask you to internalize is there's no such thing as being rude when your safety or money is at stake. Anyone who balks at basic attempts to protect yourself is not a buyer. They get a fuck you very much, thanks for your interest, have a blessed day, good bye forever.
posted by phunniemee at 11:35 AM on October 26, 2021 [7 favorites]
Meet near your bank so you can deposit it swiftly if need be. Someone I know sold his car on craigslist a few years ago and literally walked away with $13k in folding money. Cash or nothing, scams are way too easy.
When I was selling my nearly-not-driveable cheap asf beater car a few years ago, every person I met up with I asked for their driver's license first, took a photo of their driver's license, and texted it to a friend. And my friend was poised ready to call the police to my location if I didn't check back in regularly. I also told the people I was meeting that I was doing this, "I have sent your driver's license to a friend and they are expecting me to check in with them regularly," etc. One guy wanted to take my car around the block so I insisted I held onto both his license and his phone and he drove alone.
I guess the biggest thing I'd ask you to internalize is there's no such thing as being rude when your safety or money is at stake. Anyone who balks at basic attempts to protect yourself is not a buyer. They get a fuck you very much, thanks for your interest, have a blessed day, good bye forever.
posted by phunniemee at 11:35 AM on October 26, 2021 [7 favorites]
CarMax pays a lot more for vehicles than dealerships can give for trade-ins right now.
You can check their offer online and see if it's still worth the hassle to sell it to a private party.
posted by Number Used Once at 12:02 PM on October 26, 2021 [6 favorites]
You can check their offer online and see if it's still worth the hassle to sell it to a private party.
posted by Number Used Once at 12:02 PM on October 26, 2021 [6 favorites]
Be sure to get their driver's license number. One shady thing people do is buy a car, never transfer the title, then sell it on to someone else. You want to know who you sold it to when the police come asking if you robbed a gas station.
posted by H21 at 12:07 PM on October 26, 2021
posted by H21 at 12:07 PM on October 26, 2021
Used cars are quite a commodity right now, as Nonce mentioned CarMax and Carvana are both offering pretty good sales rates and they come and pick up your car (at least Carvana does)
Worth giving them a call to see what their price is compared to autotrader it might be worth it not to have to deal with selling to a random stranger.
posted by bitdamaged at 12:11 PM on October 26, 2021 [4 favorites]
Worth giving them a call to see what their price is compared to autotrader it might be worth it not to have to deal with selling to a random stranger.
posted by bitdamaged at 12:11 PM on October 26, 2021 [4 favorites]
CarMax pays a lot more for vehicles than dealerships can give for trade-ins right now.
Carvana is also a good option. They're burning VC investment money to boost their offers on used cars.
posted by hwyengr at 12:12 PM on October 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
Carvana is also a good option. They're burning VC investment money to boost their offers on used cars.
posted by hwyengr at 12:12 PM on October 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
If you're nervous about scams or the hassle involved in a private sale then take the car and your paperwork to Carmax or Carvana. You'll get an offer in 30 minutes and they'll handle the paperwork. Take it or leave it. It will probably be less than you'll get from a private sale, but not by a lot in my experience (sample of one).
Don't take it to a regular dealer. They'll give you a terrible price and they won't even reduce the hassle. They're awful places.
posted by caek at 12:16 PM on October 26, 2021
Don't take it to a regular dealer. They'll give you a terrible price and they won't even reduce the hassle. They're awful places.
posted by caek at 12:16 PM on October 26, 2021
In addition to CarMax and Carvana, there's also Vroom and Shift. Check 'em all.
Also, call a dealer for the make of car you have and see if they want to buy it. Selling a Toyota to a Ford dealer means they're probably going to sell it at auction, or wholesale it, so they won't give you as much. Selling a Toyota to a Toyota dealer, they may sell your car themselves, which means you can get more.
If your car is leased, then you may get a much better deal selling it to e.g. CarMax than you could buying out the lease and selling the car yourself. The reason is that you have to pay sales tax when you buy out the lease, but the dealer does not. Therefore you need to get enough more from the private party sale to cover this. (This may vary from state to state, however.)
We recently sold our Subaru Legacy to CarMax. It was two years old and had about 6000 miles on it. (Bought it just before COVID, both of us ended up working from home.) We got enough beyond the lease buyout to cover all the payments we'd made on it. We basically had that car for two years for free!
posted by kindall at 12:21 PM on October 26, 2021
Also, call a dealer for the make of car you have and see if they want to buy it. Selling a Toyota to a Ford dealer means they're probably going to sell it at auction, or wholesale it, so they won't give you as much. Selling a Toyota to a Toyota dealer, they may sell your car themselves, which means you can get more.
If your car is leased, then you may get a much better deal selling it to e.g. CarMax than you could buying out the lease and selling the car yourself. The reason is that you have to pay sales tax when you buy out the lease, but the dealer does not. Therefore you need to get enough more from the private party sale to cover this. (This may vary from state to state, however.)
We recently sold our Subaru Legacy to CarMax. It was two years old and had about 6000 miles on it. (Bought it just before COVID, both of us ended up working from home.) We got enough beyond the lease buyout to cover all the payments we'd made on it. We basically had that car for two years for free!
posted by kindall at 12:21 PM on October 26, 2021
Response by poster: A few quick notes:
We have $5000 left on our loan. We are not leasing it.
Dealer offered us $18,000.
Quick check of Carvana showed they’d pay $18,000.
Carmax had me do the submission and then said “We’d like to see your vehicle” and didn’t get me an offer amount.
posted by rbf1138 at 12:27 PM on October 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
We have $5000 left on our loan. We are not leasing it.
Dealer offered us $18,000.
Quick check of Carvana showed they’d pay $18,000.
Carmax had me do the submission and then said “We’d like to see your vehicle” and didn’t get me an offer amount.
posted by rbf1138 at 12:27 PM on October 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
I would take it to Carmax then. They said the same thing to me. The guy told me there aren't enough cars changing hands to make accurate offers sight unseen right now, so "we'd like to see it" is happening more. I took it in and they beat the private sale offer I already had by 10%.
But in answer to your original question, you may want to check out the times this has come up before: What are your tips and best practices for selling a car on Craigslist?, How do I sell my car?, Tips and advice for first time selling a used car?, How to buy a car from a person, etc.
posted by caek at 12:36 PM on October 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
But in answer to your original question, you may want to check out the times this has come up before: What are your tips and best practices for selling a car on Craigslist?, How do I sell my car?, Tips and advice for first time selling a used car?, How to buy a car from a person, etc.
posted by caek at 12:36 PM on October 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
If the dealer offer is at all close to the price you'd get for a private sale, it might be worth it to do the trade-in--in many states, you get a deal on the sales tax by doing a trade in that you wouldn't get by doing separate transactions.
posted by benbenson at 1:04 PM on October 26, 2021
posted by benbenson at 1:04 PM on October 26, 2021
Seems like I'm posting on a lot on this one. Also remember that Autotrader ads are asks, not sales, and if it's a dealer listing on Autotrader you can't expect to get that same amount. You do need to filter by "private sales" on AT to get comparable asks.
Unless you plan on paying it off before selling, I highly recommend taking it to Carmax, etc. No tire-kickers, no strangers, the check is real, etc.
posted by hwyengr at 1:08 PM on October 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
Unless you plan on paying it off before selling, I highly recommend taking it to Carmax, etc. No tire-kickers, no strangers, the check is real, etc.
posted by hwyengr at 1:08 PM on October 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
The used car market is crazy hot right now. Get yer money, it won't get better, unless it does. Stay safe. Show it in the bank parking lot, sell it inside. Chances are you will be showing to a pro anyway.
posted by Oyéah at 4:12 PM on October 26, 2021
posted by Oyéah at 4:12 PM on October 26, 2021
Quick check of Carvana showed they’d pay $18,000.
Anecdotal, but we sold a totalled car to them in early April 2021 after letting the offer time elapse by a week or two (because pandemic) and when we asked them to re-quote they offered something close to $1k higher, iirc. So depending on your timing, don't be afraid to take your CarMax offer & swing back on CarVana for round 2.
posted by deludingmyself at 8:03 PM on October 26, 2021
Anecdotal, but we sold a totalled car to them in early April 2021 after letting the offer time elapse by a week or two (because pandemic) and when we asked them to re-quote they offered something close to $1k higher, iirc. So depending on your timing, don't be afraid to take your CarMax offer & swing back on CarVana for round 2.
posted by deludingmyself at 8:03 PM on October 26, 2021
If you have AAA, they might have advice like https://mwg.aaa.com/automotive/articles/buy-sell-used-car-privately. I had to tell them ZIP 85031 for them to let me read the article, but it seemed more general than just Arizona to me :/
Also, it may be worth looking around for a "car concierge" service. They handle the paperwork and stuff, and usually have a network of folks looking for good used cars. (Of course, in this bonkers "used car bonanza" timeline, I don't know if they're swamped, or just as rife with scam artists as craigslist would be.) I used one a few years ago, and it was literally as easy as drive to a parking lot to meet the buyer; the "concierge" had handled all the rest.
Also nthing the "your time is worth money, your avoiding hassle has value, and if Carmax/Carvana/Vroom/whoever comes in within range of the expected private party sale price, there's something to be said for a check you know will clear."
posted by adekllny at 5:42 AM on October 27, 2021
Also, it may be worth looking around for a "car concierge" service. They handle the paperwork and stuff, and usually have a network of folks looking for good used cars. (Of course, in this bonkers "used car bonanza" timeline, I don't know if they're swamped, or just as rife with scam artists as craigslist would be.) I used one a few years ago, and it was literally as easy as drive to a parking lot to meet the buyer; the "concierge" had handled all the rest.
Also nthing the "your time is worth money, your avoiding hassle has value, and if Carmax/Carvana/Vroom/whoever comes in within range of the expected private party sale price, there's something to be said for a check you know will clear."
posted by adekllny at 5:42 AM on October 27, 2021
This thread is closed to new comments.
Thousands of people every day sell their cars on sites like Craigslist, which costs a whopping $5. If you're comfortable with selling furniture or household items on Craigslist, I think you should feel safe selling a car. Correspondingly, if you're not comfortable with selling furniture or household items on Craigslist, it's probably not a good idea to sell a car.
As for ensuring you get paid, if the transaction amount is less than $5000, I see no reason why you'd accept anything other than cash. If the transaction amount is more than $5000, it's reasonable to have the seller either wire transfer you money from their bank or meet at their bank and withdraw the total amount in cash.
posted by saeculorum at 11:11 AM on October 26, 2021 [1 favorite]